The Wellington Sevens promised much, and it delivered much more. Granted the weather wasn’t at all what was expected, with what can only be described as miserable conditions on day two of the series. But that did little to dampen the action on the field. Or the grandstand for that matter.
The action was only going to get hotter when South Africa, looking to add a third victory in a row to their impressive haul, stepped out onto a cold, wet Westpac Stadium to face the home side New Zealand.
And what a game!
The crowd was expecting something big. What it got was something outstanding. New Zealand right from the get go had the hammer down, and came out strong with Tim Mikkelson scoring early, before Sherwin Stowers crossed for the first of his two tries, New Zealand taking it’s 21 – 0 lead to the half time mark, and defending it right until the end of the game.
The scoreline though does not credit the resilient and persistent attack that the Blitzbokke boys brought to bear. Almost all of the second half saw the South Africans camped in New Zealand territory, often scant meters from the try line. They just couldn’t breach the fantastic New Zealand defence.
Both teams did themselves proud, and South Africa were unlucky not to convert good possession into points for this game.
DJ Forbes was looking a lot happier after the game, saying “to do that here, to win at home is an awesome experience. We always focus on our Defence and always play our best footy when we’re doing that. I guess we really grind it out, really show our great character and what our team is all about.”
Coach Sir Gordon Tietjens was similarly pleased with the Kiwis “I’m obviously really proud, we had a fantastic defence effort after the Fijian game. To concede no tries against some very good teams was truly a tremendous performance. Sometimes it’s how good you can bounce back from a loss, losing to Fiji, especially in Wellington really moves us. We put it into perspective, they’re a good side, we didn’t play that badly. We were able to adapt to the conditions. We’ve always talked about defence winning tournaments, and that was the real key for us.”
Take nothing away from the South Africans, they came out with all guns blazing, and they put on an amazing battle. No major errors, even in the horrific conditions, a 100% tackle rate, 33 completed passes to New Zealand’s 31, they were certainly a competitive team, New Zealand just had that something extra tonight.
This victory means New Zealand leapfrogs South Africa back to the number one spot on the table, but with only a two point buffer between them and Blitzbokke the series is still wide open, and anyone’s for the taking.
This has been an incredible weekend of rugby sevens action, on behalf of the Last Word on Sport team I’d like to sincerely thank the team at the NZ Sevens for their hospitality, and for making this weekend magical. Until next year folks.
